When we’re not at the game, we’re watching on TV, and broadcasters shape the way we see baseball. This season, Sporting News will be reviewing the work done in booths across MLB. This time it’s the Cleveland Indians on SportsTime Ohio .

A leadoff single by Michael Bourn against Phil Hughes gets the Indians rolling in Minnesota. Following Mike Aviles' lazy fly to right field, it's Michael Brantley at the plate, and the first real test of the game for Matt Underwood doing play-by-play.

Indians telecast team (via video screenshot)

"And the 1-0 is lined to center field," Underwood calls. "Long run back for (Jordan) Schafer — REACHES UP and makes a terrific catch." He waits a beat. "And Bourn has to retreat."

It's a tough play to call, because the ball is hit hard and without a lot of arc. Will it be right at the outfielder? Will it go over his head and to the wall? Instead of guessing and overselling the call, Underwood follows the fielder, and nails the moment of action when Schafer makes the catch.

What does analyst Rick Manning have to add?

"He played left field last night and made a couple of nice running catches — one diving catch — and he's in center field today, and that was a nice running catch over his shoulder. Brantley hits this ball right on the nose, Schafer goes back and puts it away. Out number two."

Maybe the difficulty of reading the ball on a drive like that for a center fielder could be mentioned, but it's good that Manning notes how Schafer played a different position in the previous game. It's also good that he updates the out total, which not enough broadcasters do in the age of the on-screen scorebox. It's still good to mention the basic facts of the game now and again.

Mr. 200

In the third inning, Manning calls it unfortunate that Corey Kluber got a no-decision in his previous start, when he left with a 1-0 lead over the Baltimore Orioles. It's a little homerish, but not over the top.

Meanwhile, one of the storylines coming into this game was Kluber being three strikeouts away from 200 on the season. The most recent Indians pitcher to reach that figure was CC Sabathia in 2007, and after a pair of punchouts in the first inning, Kluber is one away from the milestone.

Shortstop Danny Santana is the batter.

"1-2 pitch, swung on and missed!" Underwood says. "And that is strikeout number TWO HUNDRED for Corey Kluber on the year."

"It comes on the breaking ball," Manning says. "You can see that slider. That might have been a cutter."

The call from Underwood, just like in the first inning, is to the point, with proper emphasis and without a lot of flash. Manning again adds a little something, but not a ton. It's becoming clear as the game goes along that the broadcasters listen to each other, which is good. It's also becoming clear that this is a pleasant viewing experience but nothing that will knock your socks off.

Underwood brings the history, with a prepared graphic. He says that Kluber is the ninth Indians pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in a single season.

Indians statistics (via video screenshot)

It would be interesting to name the other pitchers with 200 strikeouts. with Sam McDowell and Bartolo Colon, there are Sabathia, Dennis Eckersley, Bob Feller, Gaylord Perry, Herb Score and Luis Tiant.

Something is better than nothing, but completeness would be better still.

Ask and ye shall receive? The full list is presented in the fourth inning.

Dingers!

Kluber proves human in the fourth inning, when Kennys Vargas takes a 1-0 pitch to the opposite field.

"High and deep to left, and she is GONE!" Underwood says. "Kennys Vargas with his fourth home run of the year, shows that power, and he takes Kluber deep to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead."

"I'll tell you, he has surprising power going the other way," Manning says. "Let's see what the pitch was. Low fastball that had middle of the plate. Looked like Kluber knew it as soon as he threw it. It was down, but it was on the middle of the plate, and there you'll see the swing. Brantley could just watch it go into the seats. So, Minnesota takes a 1-0 lead."

Underwood notes that the previous home run allowed by Kluber was hit by Adam Dunn on July 11, and he also notes the physical stature of those two lefty sluggers -- "two of the biggest guys in the division have hit homers off Kluber."

In the top of the fifth, it's Zach Walters at the plate for Cleveland.

"There's a drive to deep right field!" Underwood says with more a bit more vigor in his voice than in the previous half inning. "And Zach Walters has tied the game at 1! Walters with his fourth home run as an Indian, his second home run of the series, and right back come the Indians with a two-out dinger. 1-1 ballgame. Man, Walters has been very impressive in his short time with the club, and as Terry Francona said, we're still just getting to know him."

"I'll tell ya, it was a little cutter," Manning says. "He was a little bit out in front, but he kept his hands back on it, and he drilled it. Boy, this guy has hit some big home runs. Now he ties the game."

Manning clearly is from the "identify the pitch" school of analysis, which is fine, but can paint a color commentator into a corner, because it takes away time from making other points. In this case, he winds up parroting Underwood a bit instead of really adding some meaningful material.

Again, there is delayed gratification. At the beginning of the next inning, Manning notes that the home run was the first all year against Hughes on a two-strike count, after he allowed 10 such round-trippers a year ago with the Yankees.

Between the home runs, there were a couple of things worth attention. One was some solid commentary by in-game reporter Katie Witham on Yan Gomes' impact on Cleveland's pitching staff and the catcher's own growth. The other was Underwood momentarily being apoplectic upon watching a replay that appeared to show Kurt Suzuki committing catcher's interference on strike three to Lonnie Chisenhall. Further examination of replays shows that it was a foul tip, with the ball actually jarring Suzuki's glove loose on his hand. Both Underwood and Manning wonder how the ball ever could have stayed in the glove. It's a good recovery from a first impression of a play to get to what really happened.

Slow jam

Starting the bottom of the sixth inning, Underwood presents a highlight package of the previous frame, with Gomes throwing out Suzuki trying to steal second base, blocking a ball in the dirt, and catching the final strike from Kluber to escape a jam.

"And all of a sudden, Roberto Perez is behind the plate," Underwood says. "What happened?"

"Uh, good question," Manning says. "Good. Question."

The highlight package from Gomes' work the previous inning should have been more detailed. The way that Suzuki got on base was that he was hit by a pitch, which deflected off his arm, and then off the mask of Gomes. This did not escape notice when it happened, as something was made of two catchers being hit by the same pitch.

After a brief silence, Underwood remembers this play. "Looked like it staggered him a bit initially," he says. "Stayed in the game, at the time, no big deal, but you know what? Maybe they took a look at him in between innings and said, 'Uh-oh, we need to get him out of here.' That's the only logical thing that pops to mind."

"I can't think of anything else," Manning says.

Now, a replay of Gomes' injury -- and it's indeed concussion-like symptoms, better known as "a concussion" -- is shown.

It's not very much time between the confusion and Underwood bringing up the play from the previous inning, but it's enough time for a viewer to mutter, "C'mon, man, he got hit in the head last inning, it's probably that." This is not entirely dissimilar from the earlier discussion of 200-strikeout pitchers in Indians history. While it's good that they come around to these points, the best announcers are all over such things before viewers have a chance to think of them.

Being late is better than being wrong, but it's a stumbling block between being an above-average broadcast and a really good one. Before the game, Witham's interview with Kluber aired in which the ace talked about how much Gomes has helped him this season. It takes until the fourth batter of the inning to revisit this, and Manning is just getting out his thought that Kluber knows how he wants to work the Twins lineup, and should be just fine, right as the ball goes screaming down the left field line for a two-run double by Trevor Plouffe that puts the Twins ahead to stay.

"He knows how he wants to get these guys ou—"

"FAIR BALL DOWN THE LINE! Here come the Twins, they take the lead. Vargas scores. Arcia, he'll score, too. Plouffe has a two-run double, and the Minnesota Twins lead, 3-1. That's the hit that they have been dying for this series."

It's timing that makes the difference between forward thinking analysis and coming off looking rather silly. It doesn't matter that Manning, ultimately, is right – it shouldn't make a difference in the way Kluber pitches. The question about the effect of the change of catchers has to be asked sooner, so that if things do go off the rails for Kluber the way they did, Manning can point to the way that Kluber had to fight through trouble in the previous inning, and maybe just doesn't have his best-level stuff on this day, which winds up being his first loss since June 30.